Pop Culture and Me: Tales of a MuggleBorn
by Novadestin
Summary: The fanatical pop culture adventures of Candice Rowe.
1. Trick Note

**Pop Culture and Me: Tales a Muggle-Born**

**Warnings:** Sensitive Topic/Issue/Theme, Contains Spoilers

**Era:** Marauders **Pairings: **None but James/Lily is implied

**Characters:** Lupin, Snape, Sirius, James, Pettigrew, OC

**Summary:**

*Chapter One was written for emerald_moons' 'Non-Cliche Challenge: Numbers 25, 26, 28, & 171' on HPFF.* What exactly do you tell a Marauder when he asks what a Death Note is for?

_**Author's Note:**__ DO NOT read this if you have not read or seen Death Note as there are spoilers!_

_Also, I am very aware that its technically impossible for 'Death Note' to have exsisted in the time of the Marauders, but really... it was just funnier with them lol_

* * *

Candice was in a very bad mood. ...Make that an extremely bad mood. How could he just die like that!? He was the smartest person in the world! How could he not expect that creep Light would do something like that?? She just didn't get it.

"Hey Candy!" someone called behind her and her already unhappy expression turned to one even more unpleasant. No one was allowed to call her that! At least not any more… The only person who she had ever allowed to call her by that horrid nickname was now died.

"Oh L!!!" she sighed as her shoes scoffed into the stone floor. He had been the only one who she allowed to call her Candy. That was only because he would have thought it was cute that she was named after his favorite food. Would have….

Candice felt like she was on the verge of tears, but with so many people around her she knew that crying would not be a good idea. It wasn't that crying would make the other Ravenclaws in the common room think less of her, it was the fact that she was crying over a "comic book" character that would do it.

"It's not a comic book! It's Manga!!" she would yell whenever they teased her, but what did they care? What did they know! They were witches and wizards with no real plantings in the 'real world.' She, on the other hand, was a Muggle-born who had grow up in the real world, doing real things that young kids do.

The only thing was, since she was from the real world, she wanted desperately to get out of it. To run as far away from it as she could. When she had found out she was a witch it had been a dream come true, but now after so many years of studying and practicing, it all seemed just as boring. Besides, being a witch had never been her true dream.

Even as a little girl, she had always aspired to be like the characters she read in comic books. Back when she actually read comic books that is, but as she grew that interest turned to manga and cartoons turned to anime. Every new manga she read and every new anime she saw just enveloped her, to the point that she would daydream about being a part of the story. That was her dream.

But now… L was dead. L… the smartest and most beloved character in the Death Note series was now dead and it was all Light's fault!! Candice stomped her foot and stood up, causing several other Ravenclaws to look at her curiously. "I'm going out!" she announced, not that anyone had really asked, and walked swiftly from the common room.

She had no intention of going anywhere in particular, much less any idea of someplace she would actually want to go; she just felt a great urge to wonder and observe what was happening as L would do. Expect he would have done in surrounded by sweets and computer screens… she sighed again, nothing was going to make her feel any better. At least not until Light confessed to being Kira and then died himself! But even that she took little solace in.

Her mood and vengeance now lay in the hands of the story teller and artist that made the tale come to life. The brilliant Tsugumi Ohba and the legendary Tsugumi Ohba. They were superstars to her, the creators of a tale that she could not live without. A tale that had become such a part of her mentality since it first came out that she even carried around her own 'Death Note' notebook wherever she went.

It wasn't something she could ever bring herself to write in, just in case, but she always had it with her... just in case. Now she hugged it to her chest as if it were a life preserver and she was adrift as sea. How could things have turned out this way? L was supposed to expose Light as Kira and then they were going to meet and get married and eat sweets together…

"You're not helping," Candice told her fantasy life. But as she was scolding her ever vivid dreams of life as Mrs. Genius Crime Fighting Detective, she failed to pay attention to her real life body as it walked into a group of four boys.

Everything scattered… her Death Note, their books… everything fell onto the corridor's stone walkway with loud thuds that carried down the hall. "Watch where your going Candy!" one of the boys called out and Candice felt her depression over L's death vanish for a split second as she made an angry face at Sirius Black.

"What's this thing? Death Note?" came another member of the group they liked to call the 'Marauders', Peter Pettigrew.

"Don't touch that!" Candice yelled and lunged for her precious notebook, but James was the one who grabbed it first.

"So what's a Death Note hmm? You seem awfully protective of it," James asked curiously as he flipped through a few pages. "There's nothing in here, so what's the big deal?"

"The big deal is it can kill you!" Candice said angrily as she snatched it away from him. They all looked at her in complete shock, followed by complete curiosity, and Candice realized what she had just set herself up for.

These guys would have no idea what Death Note was, much less what manga was, and they deserved to be on the bad end of a joke with all the pranks they played on her and everyone else in school. Besides that, what better why to pull her out of the slump she was in then to play a prank on the king pranksters of the school with her favorite accessory?

"How exactly can that thing kill you?" Remus asked, trying to examine the notebook more closely as she curled it safely back into her arms.

"And why would you carry it around if it could? Shouldn't you be dead then?" Sirius asked jokingly, he obviously thought she was crazy. But she would show him…

"The Death Note can't kill its owner, only the people whose name the owner writes down," Candice said with just a hint of shyness, as if she didn't really want to tell them but now she had too.

"What like a list? You just write their name down and they die or something?" Peter asked and took a step back as he thought of the concept of a killer notebook. He started to wonder how much Candice liked him.

"Don't be a nutter, there's no way a notebook could do that," James said and shrugged his shoulders. "Besides, you haven't even used it yet."

"Exactly. Has anyone died yet?" she asked them somewhat casually, trying very hard not to smile. "I just haven't found anyone I particularly dislike yet that's all."

"What about the Death Eaters? Or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named? How can you not dislike them?" Sirius asked, determined to get her to see that a notebook which could kill someone just by writing their name in it was completely mental.

"And do you know any Death Eaters by name? Really Sirius, I thought you were smarter than that," she saw his body tense up and continued before his renowned ego could get in a word. "If I did know their names then they would already be in my Death Note. But until I figure them out, I will just have to settle for the people around here that really annoy me."

"Hey wait a sec," James jumped in, clearly seeing where this was going. "You can't expect us to fall for that. Sure we played a few jokes on you, but if you think we're going to fall for that then you're off your trolley!"

"Suit yourself. But you know," Candice stopped in the middle to act as if she was thinking, for effect. "If I ever did write down someone's name and people started to wonder how it happened, I would just have to write down your names too so that you don't go talking to people. Sorry about that, but you're the ones who asked what the Death Note was."

"You would do that?" Peter asked, trying to act like he wasn't worried. James patted him on the shoulder to show that there was no reason to be afraid, especially of a girl like Candice.

"Don't worry Candy, we'll never tell," Sirius joked and the others joined into his laughter as they began to walk off down the hallway.

"Suit yourself," Candice called after them. "But don't come running to me, begging for forgiveness, when something happens."

James waved back at her to say goodbye, and to say that they thought it was all in fun, but she wasn't finished just yet. The fun would be when she actually convinced them that the Death Note was real, when she wrote down a name and they died. ...Or at least pretended too. All she needed was the perfect partner in crime.

When dealing with the Marauders however, figuring out who to ask for help to get back at them was easy. Two people jumped into her mind almost as quickly as she started to plan how things would work out. Lily was an obvious choice because James and Sirius had always driven her up the wall, but she wouldn't be the right person to use for this prank because Candice had a feeling that if something happened to Lily then James and the other Marauders would be very upset with her even after they found out it was just a joke. So the only logical conclusion, at 5% probability L would say, was Severus Snape.

She had to talk to him without the Marauders seeing her though and the only way to do that was to go down into the dungeons and look for the Slytherin common room. It was probably the only place in the entire castle _and_ the grounds that the Marauders weren't know for popping up out of nowhere at. She didn't know exactly where it was herself, but she figured that where ever she saw a large gathering of Slytherins was a pretty sure bet. So she headed towards the castle entrance way and then down the stairs towards the dungeons, always keeping her eyes roaming the landscape for any sign of Severus or the Maurauders.

Several Slytherins walking up the stairway gave her dirty looks, but that came with the territory as she had never really gotten along with any of them. She had gotten along the least with Severus though, who had made it a point to hate anyone who wasn't like him. Candice didn't mind that however, she was happy she wasn't like him, she was proud to be on the side of justice... on L's side. But for this particular scheme she needed someone who wanted to get back at the Marauders even more than she did. For this to work, she needed to work with the enemy just like L had to do with Light. "Stupid Light...." Candice thought again, remember how all this had started.

Finally, seeing Severus appear out of nowhere in the darkness of the dungeons, she called after him. He ignored her at first but soon came to a stop when she asked him, "how would you like to get back at the Marauders?"

Being interested in anything that allowed him to make _them_ look bad for a change, he listened as she laid out her plan. Once Candice finished he remarked that it was actually quite silly but agreed it had merit even if, as he said, it was only because the Marauders were stupid enough to fall for it. "God, sometimes you sound just like Light Severus..." she thought, trying to keep a striaght face and not scowl at his Kira-like adittude, while they discussed the few points they both had to get right. Afterwards, she hurried back upstairs and into the Great Hall for what was sure to be an eventful evening.

As she took a seat at the Ravenclaw table, she made sure to check exactly where James and the other boys were seated at the Gryffindor table, right near the top as usual. They had a clear view of Candice at the moment as the Great Hall was still filling up with people. She opened her Death Note notebook and quickly wrote down some vague details about Severus and made sure that the Marauders saw her doing it. Sirius even made at point to draw Remus' attention to it and she had a hard time trying not to smile. "Think of what L would do," she told herself and did her best to relax into a nonchalant demeanor.

Only moments after she had finished writing and placed her notebook down next to her plate did Severus walk into the hall. Instead of walking directly to a seat at the top of the Slytherin table like he always did, he made a sharp turn and walked straight over to James and the other boys. Candice was just far enough away that even though she could hear their voices, she couldn't make out what they were saying.

Right after James jumped up from his seat to yell at Severus, Severus gripped his chest and convulsed slightly before he fell to the floor. James stood there dumbfounded while Remus and Peter jumped up to see what was the matter. They tried to lift Severus up but he just hung limply between them. At this point, several other students were starting to get worried and a few called for a teacher. Sirius was the first to jump up and walk over to Candice.

"What did you do!?" he barked at her and grabbed her Death Note before she could reach it, not that she was trying very hard.

Sirius flipped open the cover and read the sentence she had written aloud as James walked over to them, followed by Remus and Peter who carried a rather dead looking Severus between them. Candice made a note to congratulate him on his acting later, even though she thought he had always looked half dead. "Severus Snape. Dies of a heat attack after telling off those who truly deserve it."

Peter jumped, causing his grip on Severus to slip and sent him falling into Remus who, having just barely braced himself for the impact before it happened, managed to keep them both upright. "That's… that's just…that's just…." James stammered as he grabbed the Death Note from Sirius' white knuckled hands.

"That's just what you deserve for being such a toerag Potter," came Severus voice and this time it was Remus who jumped.

Severus regained his composure and took the Death Note notebook from James who had become silent at the perceived sudden revival of his enemy. He handed the notebook back to Candice and they all looked at her rather shocked, still believing that something had actually happened to Severus.

"Did I forget to mention that if you don't write down the exact details then they come back to life to haunt those that were mean to them?" Candice said, finally unable to keep from laughing.

At the sound of her laughter, James and Sirius snapped out of their surprised states and both of them looked at her extremely unhappy. "That was so not funny!" they yelled at her but she just smiled.

"Careful boys, wouldn't want to make me angry now would you?" she asked and waved the Death Note delicately from her fingers with an innocent smile on her face.


	2. Moon Power

**Author's Note:** This part switches from Death Note to Sailor Moon.

* * *

Candice adjusted the top half of her dress and pulled it level across her chest. Everything was coming together so well. Finally. After three whole months, she had finally learned the spells needed to stitch her dress for the party. Not that she actually had any party to attend at that time, and this was only a thrown together Christmas party that those who hadn't gone home for the holidays were having, but either way she was thrilled with the results. Cosplay was just so much easier when you had magic to do all the sewing for you.

Candice knew that her dress was probably a little over the top for a standard Christmas party, but she didn't care. "Neo-Queen Candice is never over dressed," she mused to herself and did a childish swirl in front of the mirror. She thought about how she had planned to wear Padme's lake dress but the Professors had nicked the idea fairly quickly when they heard about the design, a fully open back and bare shoulders was just not going to work they told her. That's alright though, Neo-Queen Serenity was far better anyways. At least in her mind she was.

"Star Wars is alright and the dress is gorgeous but nothing beat Moon Power," Candice smiled and did another spin.

When she came to a stop, she adjusted the pins in her hair just a tad to straighten the buns of her wig. Ok, so the hairstyle was a bit much, but it was necessary if she wanted to be 'in character'. A few more adjustments and she almost forgot that she was playing a role. "God I love magic," she said giddily before she cleared her throat and threw back her shoulders to straighten her back.

While she might look the part, she certainly had never acted like royalty, much less a girl who would run around in high heeled boots and a miniskirt while saving people from the evils of organizations like the Dark Kingdom or the Dead Moon Circus. She made a few poses in the mirror, adjusting each movement until she got it right 'the first time.' "Leave it to you Usagi to have a completely different personality as a princess..." she said with a roll of her eyes to the mirror.

After several more minutes of posing, she finally decided that it was time to go down and greet the masses. She gave herself one last look over and then picked up a large flower shaped crystal held on a long necklace that sat on her bedside table. Placing the chain around her neck and holding the crystal in her hands she had a momentary lapse of reality and completely fell into the role. "Moon Prism Power!" she shouted and raised the crystal out in front of her dramatically.

"Candy... what are you doing?" a voice sounded behind her and she jumped so much that she dropped the crystal. If it hadn't been for the chain that attached it to her neck, the crystal would have been in pieces on the floorboards.

She quickly whisked it back up into her hands and grasped it hard to her chest before spinning around to see two Ravenclaw first years standing in the doorway. They were looking at her with a mix of confusion and amusement, the same look everyone had when Candice was doing something anime related. It took a few moments, but her heart slowly stopped pounding. Her mind, however, still ran in circles as she tried to think of something to say.

"Yeah, what's Moon Prism Power mean?" asked one of the first years and Candice's need to explain herself was quickly replaced by the need to yell at this two "children." How dare they not know what it means!

But rather than try and explain the incredibly intricate workings of one of the greatest stories ever told, Candice thought it would be better just to act professional and lady-like... so she lied to cover her ass.

"It's just a basic transfiguration spell that's all," she said courtly and straightened her back as she walked towards them to head down to the great hall for the party.

"But I've never heard of it before," the other first year asked her, both of them following her out of the room and into the common room. "What's it do?"

"Damn first years and their questions..." she thought. However she was also scolding herself for having, yet again, dug herself into a hole which would be difficult to get out of. "It's a secret, and if I told you about it... well, then bad things would happen and I wouldn't be able to stop them," Candice said, trying to stay in character but still not give them a straight answer as they walked down to the great hall.

The two first years just glanced at each other and shrugged, as far as they were concerned this was just Candice being weird again. It wasn't anything new, in fact most of the school had just come to accept her random mood swings based on comic books and other such things. Candice was the strange oddity at the school, trying to figure out and understand what she was obsessing over that week sometimes outweighed the gossip of what James and the other Marauders were planning to do for their next prank. Normally, most people just ignored her strange clothes and accessories. The Purebloods figured that was just how a Muggle-born acted, but even the other Muggle-borns thought she was weird.

When they finally reached the great hall and Candice made her "grand entrance", the two Ravenclaws disappeared into the crowd that had all now turned to look at Candice. She smiled and accepted their stares as stunned surprise when really it was more like confused shock. She waved to a few of her professors who had been speaking to one another before she walked in and then headed over to the refreshment table to get a drink. Oh to be royal and greet your subjects... she even gave a small wave and smile to Severus as she passed him. Severus, although only slightly, nodded his head to her before turning back to find the three other Slytherins around him snickering about '_Candy's latest bizarre Muggle exploits_'.

Reaching the table, Peter handed her a glass of butterbeer before she could ask for it. "You look nice Candy, but what's with the hair?" he asked.

Candice made a face at the use of the hated nickname but then thanked him and said the hair went with the dress which of course caused Peter to make a face as he completely didn't understand what she was talking about. They spoke lightly about how Sirius had gone home with James for the holidays for a few minutes before being interrupted by Remus as he came up behind Peter. "So Candice, what exactly did you tell those two first years?" he asked and indicated the two Ravenclaw's she had come in with.

"What do you mean?" Candice asked, praying he wasn't about to ask what she was thinking.

"They just asked me if I had ever heard of the Moon Prism Power transfiguration spell. Apparently you told them it was a basic spell, but no one has ever heard of it."

Candice eyed the two first years in annoyance for having sought out an answer to their questions but they were too busy talking to some other people to notice. "Well Remus," Candice started but she wasn't exactly sure what she was going to say.

"Does it have something to do with that crystal thing you're holding?" Peter asked and indicated the crystal flower around her neck which she promptly clutched in one of her fists.

Candice suddenly had a strong desire to tell them that she was secretly a sailor scout sworn to defend the solar system and eventually become queen of Crystal Tokyo, but after what had happened the last time she tried playing a joke on the Marauders, she thought it probably wouldn't be the best idea. Last time they hadn't forgiven her for nearly an entire month. Even though it was Severus who had "played dead," they still thought she had gone a bit too far. Candice remembered having yelled at them for saying that, reminding them of some of the mean things they had down as "pranks." This time she thought it best just to skip all that.

"Yes it does, but I still can't explain it to you because that would just ruin things," Candice said and finished off her glass of butterbeer.

"Ruin what things?" Peter asked, exchanging confused looks with Remus.

Candice just smiled, "you'd have to be Muggle-born to understand. Now come on King Endymion, dance with me!"

She grabbed hold of Peter's hand and began to pull him out towards the makeshift dance floor while Peter looked over his shoulder and mouthed to Remus, "who's Endymion?" Remus just laughed and shook his head, that was Candice. She left everyone with more questions than answers.


End file.
